New Zealand - Part 1

     New Zealand has been a must-do for us since arriving Down Here.  We waited until "Summa" to make the trek across the Tasman Sea, knowing that it was high tourist season due to the better weather.  I'm trying to type that with a straight face.  First, the predicted "crowds" and "busy roads" never materialized.  It seems that crowds are all relative. Since the entire country is only 4 million people, it must seem crowded to the Kiwis in January and February.  We drove for miles at times without seeing other cars and never ran across anything remotely like traffic congestion.  Lovely!  The weather was a bit disappointing as we had lots of rain and a surprisingly cold day in Queenstown; it even snowed!  The stunning scenery was amazing though.  We took hundreds and hundreds of photos and it has taken a while to sift through them all.


     We flew into Wellington, known as Windy Welly, on a horrible day.  Wellington is on the southern tip of the North Island and has the unfortunate distinction of being the windiest city in the Southern Hemisphere with winds averaging 15 mph each day of the year.  The streets were deserted, the wind was blowing gale force, and it was 50 degrees.  Wellington is known for this type of weather so we just got on with things and laughed that we left behind a gorgeous day in Sydney.  We woke up to this though...

     We spent a day checking out the waterfront, enjoying the great Te Papa museum and eating some yummy food, for which Wellington is known.  It reminded us of a small Seattle with its mountains, water, foodie vibe, arts scene and Green tendencies.  Wellington calls itself the Coolest Little Capital in the World.  Agreed...except maybe for the weather.

     Cook Strait between the North and South Island is notoriously rough but we lucked out and had a smooth 3 hour sail across to Picton. 

    Once in Picton, we grabbed some lunch and boarded the TransCoastal train bound for Christchurch.  The kids had never ridden on a passenger train and they are now spoiled.  This one was brand new, high tech and sparkly clean!  The 5 hour trip down the east coast to Christchurch was full of gobsmacking (good Aussie word) views!

Love the combination of  black sand beaches, driftwood and turqouise water.

Fur seals near Kaikoura

 
   We had very limited time in Christchurch but took a bit of a look around.  Unfortunately, there is still very significant damage from the huge earthquake in February and smaller recent ones with much of the downtown still closed off.  We read that there were daily earthquakes while we were there, but we didn't feel any of them.  Just fine by me to have a seismic activity-free visit!  Many people have told us that the 'old' Christchurch was so beautiful and often a highlight of a visit, so it is really sad to see the state to which it has been reduced.

   After a plane, a ferry, and a train, we got a boring old rental car for the remaining days.  We drove up and over the Southern Alps via Arthur's Pass to the west coast of the South Island.  This is reported to be one of the most scenic drives in the world yet we rarely saw more than a car or two. 

Funny old timey train signs

New Zealand has ten times more sheep than people.  The Kiwis eat a lot of lamb, export tons of lamb and make beautiful wool products. 

Castle Hill Rocks near Arthur's Pass. 

Glacial valley

Don't see this one every day!  Kiwis are nocturnal and very hard to spot in the wild.  We didn't see any, wild or otherwise.

     New Zealand is home to the world's only alpine parrot, the Kea.  Keas live only on the South Island and are very curious and friendly.  They also love to eat rubber products, especially car fittings, so they hang out in parking lots.  Even though they are endangered, we saw quite a few of them. 

One of Sam's many conversations with Keas.

  Once across the island, we turned south and drove along the west coast.  This area gets tons and tons of rainfall and has subtropical rainforests along the coast.  Suddenly all the mountains were completely covered in vegetation.   

Rugged beach at Hokitika

The temperature hit about 70 degrees this day and we had to stifle a few giggles when the Kiwis told us how "unbelievably hot" it was!  It's all relative....

Sam liked all the "Carolina Blue" glacial rivers

         We'll post again with photos from the glaciers and adventures in Queenstown. Soon...hopefully.